Smoking, Camp Cooking & All That Cobblers
BBQs and outdoor cooking in general being a bit of a passion of mine, I was delighted to be able to trial a ProQ Frontier 3 in 1 BBQ Smoker. This comes in kit form and after a bit of assembly you have four sections: base containing the fire basket, bottom stack unit which has a water pan and grid, top stack unit which has a grid and a domed lid unit fitted with a hanging rack and a thermometer. Both stacker units have doors for inspection of both the food and the fire during operation. It’s these stacker units that make the Frontier so versatile. Each unit can cook or smoke about 11kg (25lb) of food so in two unit form it can hold up to 22kg (50lb) extendable to 66kg (75lb) by purchasing an additional stacker unit. Alternatively one unit can be removed for smoking small quantities or by removing both it can be used as a conventional kettle BBQ.
I have hot smoked pheasants and chicken before, both in a home-made smoker and in my Premier Cobb so I used a chicken for my first test in the Frontier. Using the recipe from the instruction book, I prepared the fire, three quarter filled the water pan with hot water and waited for the whole unit to come up to temperature. When ready I added the chicken and a cupful of presoaked BBQC Wood Chips. Control is easy as the dial on the lid shows the internal temperature which can be adjusted using the bottom vent. Three and a half hours later I opened the top inspection hatch and checked the internal temperature of the meat using a ProQ Temperature Probe to check the required 74ºC (165ºC) had been achieved.
We ate the chicken cold the next day for lunch and it was lovely. Even my wife, who isn’t a big fan of smoked food, said she liked because it was unusually moist and succulent.
Next I tried smoking mackerel which is a bit more challenging. It’s easy enough if you just hot smoke them and eat them straight away but a bit more complicated if you want them to keep for a few weeks. I followed instructions from two books, Preserved and A Guide To Canning, Freezing, Curing & Smoking Meat, Fish & Game. Having prepared the fish, I hung them from the hooks in the lid and started the nine hour smoking process. Because of the long time and the need to increase temperature towards the end I needed a ProQ Charcoal Chimney Starter to start additional charcoal and replenish the fire. These are amazing as you can light a load of charcoal very quickly using just a couple of pieces of newspaper.
The fish turned out well, looked and tasted good and kept as it should. The only thing that would have made it better would be the ability to completely cold smoke, an add-on from the US I hope to review soon.
Meanwhile I have had a couple of other US products to review. The first being Wood Gas Campstoves. These unique stoves produce a high heat, clean burn, fuelled by no more than little bits of available biomass. The key to this efficiency is a built-in two speed fan powered by a couple of AA batteries.
I tried the smaller LE model on a wet day in March. My available fuel consisted mainly of bits of dead but wet briar and some twigs. The instructions say light it from the top with tinder. I used a couple of small pieces of Magfire Tinder which lit well but showed little signs of setting fire to the wood. I plugged in the battery pack and was amazed as the smouldering fuel blazed into a cookable fire, and a few minutes later I had a pint of water on the boil. These are not cheap but they are well made and you will never need to buy fuel again. The LE is made for solo backpacking while the larger XL could be used by a whole family.
After years of trying we have finally managed to source a Camp Chef Ultimate Dutch Oven and the Tripod to hang it from. This top of the range convection Dutch oven can be used to bake, roast, smoke, stew and fry. With its international reputation it doesn’t really need our endorsement but I will report back in the next issue on how it cooks. Might even try a cobbler.
John Adams
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ProQ Frontier BBQ Smoker.
ProQ Additional Stacker Unit.
BBQC Wood Chips.
ProQ Temperature Probe.
ProQ Charcoal Chimney Starter.
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